Do You Really Want Me?
by Sakenichi
Summary: Nicole's 15th birthday brings about some interesting events. Zase ChaseZoey
1. Chapter 1 Nicole's Birthday

Do You Really Want Me?

By Sakenichi

Chapter One – Nicole's Birthday

It was a warm summer morning at Pacific Coast Academy. Sunshine trickled through Zoey Brooks' dorm room window, shining in her eyes and causing her to awaken before the alarm her roommate, Nicole Bristow, had set the evening before. Carefully she opened one eye at a time, blinking as she looked up at the purple ceiling of their room.

It was then that she noticed someone was standing over her. She took a few moments to register what was going on and then she let out a high-pitched scream.

Lola Martinez leapt backwards at the loud scream and almost smacked into Nicole, who'd jumped out of bed in fright at all the commotion.

"Lola! What are you doing?" Zoey cried, rolling herself off her bed and stood beside the two startled brunettes.

"What am I doing?!" Lola replied, "What are you doing screaming like that?! I was just about to wake you up!"

Zoey looked confused for a moment and then she remembered. She and Lola had planned to wake up before Nicole and sneak out to bring in a surprise birthday cake for her birthday.

Nicole arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow, "But I set the alarm Lola. Why would you need to wake her up?"

Lola laughed nervously. She could act her way out of this, she was sure of it.

"Well you see," she started, "Zoey promised to help me with-"

Zoey cut her off, "Don't lie Lola," she sighed, "We **_were_** going surprise you with a cake, but I blew it."

Nicole's eyes widened and she broke out into a big grin. Her friends had remembered her birthday after all. She'd been anxious about turning 16 and not a single person had indicated that they even knew it had been approaching.

"You guys are the best," she said happily. She was going to continue when there was a knock on their door.

"Someone open the door for me!" Quinn Pensky's voice came from the other side.

"Logan! Move out of the way," Chase Matthews' voice floated through the door as well, followed by some banging sounds and a bit of shuffling.

The three girls inside the room looked at each other and then the door burst open, revealing Quinn, Chase, Logan Reese, Dustin Brooks and Michael Barret. In Quinn's arms was a large pink birthday cake in the shape of a shopping bag. It read, 'Happy 15th Nicole!' in bright blue letters.

"Happy birthday!" the five of them chorused in unison.

"Oh my gosh guys! You're the best!" Nicole cried, her voice extra perky.

"Do you like it?" Quinn asked proudly, placing the cake on a desk. "I made it myself."

"You made it yourself?" Logan asked incredulously, looking at the cake as though it as going to explode any moment.

The rest of the group were inclined to agree with Logan, looking at Quinn curiously.

"What's in it?" Zoey asked.

"Nothing much to worry about. It's a chocolate cake, but has zero fat and it actually better for you than those fad 'diet cakes'," Quinn replied, "And it tastes just like the real thing."

"Wow, that sounds good," Nicole concluded and stuck her finger in the icing and licking a blob of pink goop off the end. The others watched her to see if any weird was going to happen to her. "It tastes awesome!"

That cinched the deal for the rest of the group and they set about cutting the cake and passing pieces out.

Moments later they were all seated around room 101. Nicole sat at the desk, protecting what remained of her great tasting fat-free cake, Quinn and Dustin sat beside her cross-legged on the floor, Michael, Logan and Lola sat on Lola's lower bunk bed and Chase and Zoey sat side-by-side on Zoey's single bed.

"Quinn, you have to make everyone's birthday cake from now on," Lola said before taking another large bite.

"I can agree with that," Michael grinned, displaying a mess of mashed up brown cake and pink icing in his mouth.

Lola leaned past Logan and smacked him lightly on the arm, "Michael, that's gross."

"Sorry," he apologized, closing his mouth.

Chase chuckled at his friends; very conscious of the fact he was mere inches away from Zoey, on her bed, while she was still in her just-modest pajamas.

Zoey meanwhile, was thinking the same thing as Chase and wondering if it would look weird for her to grab a dressing gown when it was so warm out. She opted to stay put, feeling somewhat awkward as Chase's arm brushed against the bare skin of her own.

She knew how Chase felt about her. She tried to make it appear that she was oblivious to his feelings, as she didn't want to mess up their friendship by openly admitting she liked him back. And it appeared that everyone believed she didn't know, even though some of the things Chase said and did made it blatantly obvious.

Zoey carefully placed her fork on her plate after she'd finished her slice of cake. She smiled fondly as she watched her other friends babbling away about what Nicole was getting for her birthday and what they'd planned to do with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Chase was watching her, the look in his eyes making her heart skip a beat or two.

'_Why does he always have to look at me like that when he thinks I don't notice?_' she thought, turning her face to his and making him look the other way in a hurry.

"So guys, how about we get you boys out of here so the birthday girl can get dressed and then we can head to the amusement park?" Zoey asked, taking charge of the situation as per normal.

Logan winked at her, "What if we want to stay and watch?"

Zoey rolled her eyes at him and laughed as both Michael and Chase hooked an arm under each of Logan's and carted him out of the room.

"Aww come on! Guys!" Logan's voice trailed off as they disappeared down the hall. Dustin jumped up and ran out after them.

Quinn circled the room and collected all the plates and also bid them adieu as she took the plates to return them to the cafeteria. "I'll meet you at the school entrance!" she called and closed the door behind her.

The three girls looked at each other and then squealed, rushing around madly to get themselves ready.


	2. Chapter 2 Fair Ground

Chapter Two – Fair Ground 

After a flourish of picking out clothing and doing and redoing hair and finding shoes and then tracking down where all their cell phones and wallets and selecting matching handbags, Zoey, Nicole and Lola were ready to go. They hurried down the stairs and out to the footpath where they found the boys and Quinn standing around waiting.

"Finally," Logan said, sounding somewhat annoyed, "You girls always take so long to get ready."

Lola shook her head slightly, "Like you take any less time looking at yourself in the mirror Logan."

"I have to admit, she's got you there," Chase said with a cheeky grin.

Logan frowned and folded his arms in defeat.

"So…" Nicole started, looking overly excited as usual, "How are we getting to the amusement park? More importantly, which amusement park are we going to?" she kept talking, more to herself now, "Oh I hope it's something exciting like Disneyland… I haven't been to Disneyland in such a long time!"

"Nicole," Zoey butt into Nicole's rant, "Disneyland is like a five hour drive from PCA… I think. Anyway, we're going somewhere much closer. We're going to Malibu Castle!"

"Oh…" Nicole said, sounding a bit disappointed.

Lola hooked her arm around Nicole's shoulder. "Don't sound so bummed Nicole. There's heaps of fun stuff at Malibu Castle. They have mini-golf and go-karts and a big arcade!"

Nicole perked up a bit, "You think they have that new shopping fashion game?"

Lola and Zoey shared a glance. Shopping game?

Zoey laughed uneasily, "I'm sure they do."

Logan leaned over from behind, "Don't worry about the money, my dad offered to pay for everything."

Chase chimed in, "Yeah apparently there's an unlimited go-kart special. We totally have to do that!"

Logan interrupted again, "And in regards to getting there. Does anyone object to one of my father's limos?"

"A LIMO?!" Nicole squealed, "Oh my gosh Logan, that's so awesome of your dad!"

Logan winked at the girls, "Anything for the lovely birthday girl."

Chase and Michael had to stop themselves from gagging in the background. Logan was always splashing his father's money around.

As if it had been perfectly timed to Logan's speech, the limousine pulled up beside them. The driver hopped out and opened the door for them and the eight friends piled in.

"Malibu Castle here we come!"

After they'd been driving for a while the limousine slowed and then stopped. There was a spluttering sound and the driver rolled down the screen to talk to Logan.

"I'm very sorry Mr. Reese, but it appears that the limousine has broken down," the driver announced, looking very uncomfortable.

"What?" the group cried.

"Well great," Logan snapped, "Don't just sit there! Call for another car!"

"Yes sir!" the driver said hurriedly and rolled the screen back up to make the call.

The group looked at each other and then all started talking at once.

"What do we do now?" Zoey asked fretfully.

"What if we never get there?" Nicole cried, "What if we can't ever get another car and we're stuck here forever?!"

Chase sighed, "Everyone needs to calm down. I'm sure the driver will be able to get another car sent out for us. We just need to sit tight and wait for it to arrive."

No one could argue with that logic and silence fell again for a moment until…

"I need to go to the bathroom," Dustin spoke up.

"Dustiiiiiiiiinnn," Zoey sighed, "I thought you went before we left?"

"I did! But then I had two drinks from the little fridge in the limo and now I need to go again," he whined.

Lola looked a tad uncomfortable, "I kind of need to go too…"

Quinn meanwhile, was searching through her bag. "Don't you guys worry about the bathroom. I was working on this new pill and you guys can be my test subjects!" She triumphantly pulled a small white pill bottle out of the bag.

"New pill?" Nicole asked warily.

Quinn smiled widely, "Yes. It's designed to absorb the excess water in your bladder so you don't have to run out to the bathroom during those important moments – like a long exam or the newest episode of Xtreme Science."

Lola blanched, "I think I can hold it."

"Yeah, I don't think I would want to try one either," Michael commented, remembering Quinn's de-skunkifying spray.

"I don't care! Gimme one of those!" Dustin exclaimed, grabbing at the bottle.

"Dustin!" Zoey tried to grab the bottle as well. The impact of two hands knocked the bottle from Quinn's hand and it fell to the floor of the limousine, spilling little red pills all over the floor.

"No!" Quinn cried, scrambling after the pills. "They're not supposed to have this much contact with carbon monoxide! They're going to…"

She was cut off by the pills popping loudly like tiny fireworks.

"QUICK, EVERYONE GET OUT!" Zoey yelled and threw the door open. The eight occupants of the limousine rushed from the car and slammed the door closed again, as the little pills popped away like a bag of microwave popcorn.

"I for one, am glad no one managed to have one of those," Lola said.

Dustin looked pale, "Yeah…"

"My pills…" Quinn said pitifully.

Suddenly the engine of the limousine turned over and the car started up. Before anyone had the chance to say a word, the driver sped off, obviously trying to make up for lost time, but unaware that the occupants of the limousine were no longer inside.

"Hey wait!" they all called after the limousine, but it was long gone.

"Just great," Nicole moaned, "My favorite bag was in there."

Zoey eyes widened as she came to a realization, "All of our bags are in there. With our money… and our cell phones."


	3. Chapter 3 Stranded

Chapter Three – Stranded

"My birthday is ruined," Nicole moaned as she slumped beside Quinn on the grass. "Why'd we have to break down in the middle of nowhere?"

"When this happens in the movies, the group usually splits into pairs and looks for help," Lola commented while inspecting her fingernails, making it obvious that she had no intention of doing just that.

Zoey jumped up, "That's a great idea. Chase and I will go look for help." She was dying to get away. Sitting around being helpless just wasn't her style. And Quinn kept asking her to test things for her to create a makeshift distress signal.

"We will?" Chase asked, and then changed his tone at Zoey's look, "I mean, yes we will."

"Hang on, why should you guys go?" Logan demanded.

"Yeah," Nicole agreed, "I don't want to sit around here anymore."

"You really want to walk for who knows how long in those shoes?" Zoey indicated Nicole's bright purple pumps and then her own white sneakers.

Nicole frowned, "You make a good point. I think I'll stay here with Quinn."

"What about me?" Logan asked. He was determined to go with them so he could intrude.

"Why don't you and Michael head the other way on the road? Whoever finds something first will go back with help and then pick up Quinn, Dustin, Nicole and Lola and keep heading the other way to find you guys," Zoey suggested.

Chase grinned. Trust Zoey to come up with something smart like that to get rid of Logan.

Logan opened his mouth to argue, but Michael grabbed his arm, "Come on, let's get a head start on them so we can find help first." That got Logan working. He liked to win more than to spy on people's conversations.

Zoey and Chase watched them disappear around the bend and then turned back to the four sitting on the grass.

"Are you guys sure you'll be alright waiting here?" Zoey asked.

Quinn waved them away without even looking up from her work. Lola and Nicole shrugged.

"We'll be fine," Lola replied, "And we'll make sure nothing bad happens to Dustin."

"As if!" Dustin exclaimed, "I'll be making sure nothing bad happens to you guys." He flexed his arm, trying to show some muscle.

"He's been around Logan for too long," Zoey muttered under her breath to Chase. Then she changed her tone, "Sure thing Dustin. You protect the girls. We'll be back as soon as we can."

With that, Zoey and Chase started heading back the way they'd come from.

After five minutes of walking, Zoey broke the silence.

"What do you think we'd be doing right now if we'd made it to Malibu Castle?" she asked, glancing at Chase.

"I'd be kicking Logan's butt on the go-kart track while you girls cheer me on?" Chase suggested.

Zoey punched him lightly in the arm, "I had enough cheerleading after the people auction thank you very much. And I'm sure that it'd be me kicking 'butt' instead of you."

Chase rubbed his arm gently, "Oh most definitely. You can kick my butt anytime."

"I'll hold you to that," she replied with a grin.

Silence fell between the pair again as they both reflected on what exactly that would entail.

Suddenly, Zoey was screaming.

"BUG! THERE'S A BUG ON ME! GET IT OFF!" she cried, throwing herself at Chase in a panic.

He grabbed her arms and steadied her.

"Where? I don't see anything," he said, giving her the once over.

Zoey felt stupid for squealing like an idiot. She was certain something had fallen off the branch they'd just passed under.

"I think it's in my hair. I felt something laid on me," she whimpered, still horrified at the thought of a disgustingly awful bug having a great time crawling around her head.

Chase took her head in his hands and inspected her hair. Sure enough, there was a tiny little bug struggling to escape her dark blond hair.

"Don't move," Chase instructed. He carefully picked the bug from her hair and flicked it away into the grass. "There, all gone."

"Thanks," she said gratefully. She looked at him and he looked back, his hands still grasping her chin.

'_That look…'_ she thought, seeing something glaze over Chase's eyes making her heartbeat speed up.

"Chase?" she asked, getting no response. "Chaaaase?" She waved her hand in front of his face and he snapped out of it, dropping his hands down like her face had burnt them.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

They looked at each other awkwardly again.

'_Do you really want me Chase? Am I really that special?'_ Zoey thought as she watched him try and think up a conversation topic to get rid of the uncomfortable air.

"Come on," she chided, "We'll never find help if we keep standing around."

He smiled weakly at her; grateful she managed to turn around the situation.

To his surprise, Zoey grabbed his hand and smiled… almost somewhat shyly.

'_Could she know?'_ he thought frantically, secretly pleased and frightened to be holding her hand again like this. The last time they'd held hands they almost ended up kissing courtesy of Dustin's bad-girl girlfriend.

They started to walk again when Zoey stopped suddenly and pointed.

"Look Chase!" she pointed excitedly, "I see a house!"

'_That's great…'_ Chase thought as she dropped his hand again and started running up the hill towards the house.

"Someone up there hates me don't they?" he asked, looking up at the sky before running to join Zoey at the house.


	4. Chapter 4 Unusual

Chapter Four – Unusual

The old hinge on the door creaked loudly when Zoey and Chase tried to open it. The door hadn't been locked by the looks of things. Or maybe it had, but was just so old that it had given way.

"I don't think we're going to find anyone here," Chase commented, eyeing the light layer of dust over the poorly lit room.

Zoey groped the wall beside the door and located a light switch. She flipped it on and revealed that the room was in fact empty and the house more than likely abandoned.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with you on that one," Zoey coincided, walking gingerly over the groaning floorboards. "You think it's a long shot that there might be a phone?"

"Yep. A very BIG long shot," Chase agreed, walking into the area he supposed was a kitchen.

Zoey quickly followed him, too creeped out to stay in the main room alone.

"Hey, there's a refrigerator in here," Chase announced, rather surprised with his find. He hadn't expected anything at all in the house.

Zoey peered around the corner, "Wow. Anything in it?"

"I don't know," Chase replied, opening it slowly in case something weird jumped out at him. "Empty."

"Bummer," Zoey frowned, "Hey wait… if the lights work and the fridge is on, doesn't that mean someone's been here recently?"

Chase raised an eyebrow, "You're right. Perhaps they're still here!"

They looked at each other in horror as the floorboards creaked in the main room.

Meanwhile, Michael and Logan where having even less luck finding something… anything.

"Man, I'm tired of walking," Logan complained.

"Yeah well you're not the only one," Michael muttered, sick of listening to Logan whine.

"My precious feet are going to have blisters all over," he continued, much to Michael's dismay, "And these brand new sneakers are ruined!"

"Oh. The horror," Michael said, voice monotone with a tinge of sarcasm.

'_Chase better be taking advantage of being alone with Zoey,'_ he thought, _'I will have to kill him if he hasn't!'_

Back in the house, Zoey and Chase have grabbed each other, preparing to take on whatever or whoever was to discover them in the house.

A dark shadow moved across the floor, coming closer and closer and then…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" they all yelled at the same time.

"Mr. Bender?!" Zoey cried.

"Zoey! Chase!" the teacher replied, "What are you doing here?"

"We were heading to Malibu Castle when our car broke down and then we went looking for help," Chase explained.

"You drive?" Mr. Bender looked confused, "You're not old enough to hold a license."

"No, Mr. Bender. Logan's dad leant us a limo and driver for Nicole's birthday party," Zoey continued for Chase, "He got the limo working, but left without realizing we'd gotten out of the car."

The man nodded, processing the information he'd just been given.

"Were there more of you?" he asked.

"Yes, we left Quinn, Nicole, Lola and Dustin to wait while we got help and Logan and Michael tried heading the direction the limo had gone," Chase clarified.

The teacher frowned.

"Wait… Mr. Bender. What are you doing here?" Zoey asked.

They both watched as his face reddened.

"I urr… was spending the weekend here… with a friend," he said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

As if on cue, in walked a tall blond woman dressed in a short blue dress.

Zoey and Chase looked at each other, resisting the urge to laugh. They'd just busted in on their teacher's romantic weekend away from PCA.

"Why don't you two go and wait in the living room," Mr. Bender commanded rather than asked and directed them from the kitchen.

As the walked over near the door, they could hear him talking to the woman.

"No, I didn't plan for them to show up," he was saying. She said something they couldn't hear and then he continued, "Of course not! But it's my duty to take them back to the school." 

"I feel bad for intruding on them," Zoey commented, looking out the window.

"You and me both," Chase concurred. "I'm just glad she wasn't the one to find us poking around in their kitchen. That would have been a LOT harder to explain than it did for Mr. Bender."

Zoey nodded, "Well I'm glad we found them here and not some psychopathic axe murder."

Chase smirked, "You've been watching way too many scary movies with Lola."

"Of course not," she replied indignantly, "We only watched… four last night. At any rate, at least it's prepared me for creeps who prey on girls."

Chase was tempted to sling an arm around her shoulder and pull her close to him. Instead, he turned away from the window.

"Well I was here. I would have protected you if some psycho killer showed up."

Zoey blushed faintly, but Chase didn't notice as she was still facing the other way.

"Yes, you're so brave," she said jokingly. They both chuckled.

Mr. Bender finished arguing with his mystery lady at that point and walked out into the living room. He coughed and straightened his tie.

"Sorry about that," he said, "Belinda was a little bit… disappointed that I had to interrupt our… talk."

Zoey grinned, "It's ok Mr. Bender. Even teachers are entitled to private time."

The teacher relaxed and grabbed his keys from the hook they hadn't noticed earlier.

"Come on then, let's go pick up your friends," he said and they followed him outside to his car.

"Was this here before?" Zoey asked. Chase shrugged.


	5. Chapter 5 Rescue Me

Chapter Five – Rescue Me

Zoey and Chase piled into the back of Mr. Bender's car and the three of them drove off, heading down the road the pair had been down hours earlier before the limo had broken down.

They'd been driving for roughly ten minutes when Mr. Bender asked.

"Where are they?"

Zoey looked at Chase and they both frowned.

"Surely we couldn't have walked that far," she murmured.

Chase looked around, "Keep driving Mr. Bender, maybe they got tired of waiting."

The teacher nodded and they coasted along the deserted road. The sun was starting to dip down, indicating a lot of time had passed since they left the school in the morning. Zoey glanced at Chase's watch.

"Wow, it's almost 4," she commented.

"I don't see them kids," Mr. Bender spoke up. "Perhaps Logan and Michael managed to find help before you?"

"It's possible," Chase agreed.

"Tell you what. I'll drive you two back to PCA and maybe we'll find they've already returned," Mr. Bender suggested.

Zoey nodded in agreement, "Sounds like the best option."

Mr. Bender did a u-turn and they started to head back to Pacific Coast Academy.

Twenty minutes later, Mr. Bender pulled into the student drop off point.

"I'm going to leave the rest up to you guys," he said, "I have to get back and make things up with Belinda."

Zoey smiled at their teacher, "Thank you so much for your help Mr. Bender. Sorry we ruined your weekend."

The teacher shook his head modestly, "It's not ruined yet."

They waved as he drove off back to the cabin. Zoey and Chase looked at each other and then headed up to the girls' lounge to see if the group had returned.

Zoey slid the glass sliding door of the girls' lounge open and the two of them walked inside. Apart from one girl that Zoey didn't recognize sitting in front of the TV, no one was there.

"I guess they didn't make it back," Chase mumbled, eyeing Zoey carefully.

"I hope they're alright," she said, frowning. "Come on, let's check our dorm rooms. Maybe they are here and hanging out upstairs?"

Chase nodded silently and followed her as she hurried up the stairs.

Once they'd reached room 101, Zoey bent over and opened the door with the key that always hung around her neck. Chase pushed the door open from behind her after she's moved away and they discovered an empty room.

"I guess the door would have been unlocked if they were here," Zoey mused, suddenly conscious of the fact that she and Chase were alone in her room.

Chase obviously realized the same thing, and stuttered nervously, "H-how about we check my dorm room?"

Zoey smiled at him, "Good plan."

They walked together in silence out of Brenner dorm and over to Chase's dorm – Rigby.

Again, they hurried upstairs and when Chase unlocked his dorm room door, they were met once again with an empty room.

"Ok, I think we're running out of places to look," Zoey commented, sitting on the edge of Chase's bottom bunk.

'_Zoey… is… on… my bed!'_ Chase thought hysterically, _'No! Must focus on missing friends!'_

"Yeah, seems like it," he agreed, stumbling when he tried to casually lean against the side of the bunk bed.

"Oh! If they've found help, maybe they've found their cell phones!" Zoey said, jumping up from the bed and moving to Chase. "Lend me your phone."

"Umm hello?" Chase said helplessly, waving his hands around for emphasis, "My cell phone was also in the limo."

"Oh right," Zoey bit her lip. "You think Logan has a spare?"

Chase shrugged, "I wouldn't be surprised if he did."

"Ok, let's look and see," Zoey said, approaching the dresser the boys shared.

"No!" Chase yelled, jumping in her way, "You don't want to look in there!"

Zoey rolled her eyes, "Oh come on. It can't be _that _messy."

Chase nodded his head hard, "Yes! It's so messy, that there are probably all sorts of creepy crawlies and bugs and other nasties in there!"

Zoey put her arms on his shoulders and moved him aside. She yanked the top drawer open and was almost hit in the face when clothing – more specifically boys' underwear – flew out at her.

"Ahh!" she yelled as a pair of Logan's boxers landed on her head.

Chase reached over and plucked the offending undergarments off of her head.

"I did warn you it was messy."

"Messy?! It looks like a bomb went off in there!" Zoey exclaimed, trying to not look and work out if Chase wore boxers or briefs.

Chase crammed the clothing back into the drawer and shoved it closed.

"Boys will be boys?" he offered.

Zoey shook her head, "We can forget searching for a second phone. Too bad it's the weekend, otherwise we could have used the one in administration office."

Flopping down on his bed, Chase pondered on how they'd contact their friends.

"Why don't we just borrow someone else's phone? What about your dorm adviser – Coco?" Chase suggested, "I'm sure she has one to keep track of her latest boyfriend."

"We could try," Zoey pulled him up and they headed back to Brenner dorm.

Cautiously Zoey approached her dorm advisor's room. She knocked lightly on the door and peered in when the door opened on its own.

"Coco? Are you here?" she asked.

The tall blond came storming over, "Brooks, what do want? It's the weekend. I may be your dorm advisor, but I'm entitled to a break!"

Zoey laughed nervously, "Chase and I were just wondering if we could borrow your cell phone. See we don't have ours right now and-"

Coco glared, "You interrupted my soap opera for that?!" She stomped away from the door again and returned moments later, "Here, just don't be too long." She thrust a pink flip-top cell phone into Zoey's hand.

"Umm thank you," Zoey said as Coco slammed the door in her face. She turned to Chase.

"Let's find out where our friends are."


	6. Chapter 6 I Think We're Alone

Chapter Six – I Think We're Alone

Zoey dialed Nicole's number from memory. Seconds later her perky brunette friend picked up on the other end. Zoey and Chase both leant close to the phone to listen. They could hear a lot of noise in the background.

"Nicole?" Zoey called loudly into the speaker.

"Zoey!" Nicole exclaimed and they heard her cover the phone to speak to the others, "Hey guys it's Zoey!"

"Nicole, where are you?" Zoey asked.

"We made it to Malibu Castle!"

There was a rustling sound and then Lola had taken over the phone.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked, "We were worried."

Chase and Zoey glanced at each other, "We're fine. What happened? How did you get to Malibu Castle?"

Lola laughed weakly, "Well, funny thing is… about five minutes after you guys left, Logan and Michael came back. They found the driver just around the corner, the limo broke down again. The second car he called for showed up just after that, so we got all our stuff and continued to Malibu Castle."

"What?!" Zoey yelled, causing Chase to back away, "Why didn't you guys look for us?!"

"We were going to. But everyone was eager to get here and use… the facilities… so we sent the first driver back for you guys after we helped him jumpstart the car," Lola explained.

Chase shrugged helplessly, but Zoey still looked annoyed.

"I guess that kind of makes sense…" she mumbled.

There was more rustling on the other end and then Quinn was on the phone.

"So where are you now?" she asked.

Zoey frowned, "Back at PCA. We ran into Mr. Bender and he gave us a lift."

"Oh good," Quinn said, "I was going to organize a tracking beckon to hone in on Chase's watch, but after we tested it on Logan's cell phone and it blew up, the others wouldn't let me try and fix it."

Chase looked a bit horrified, but then chuckled as he thought of Logan's reaction to losing his precious cell phone.

"Hey Quinn! Can I talk to Chase?" they heard Michael yell in the background.

Zoey raised an eyebrow and handed Chase the phone.

"Put him on Quinn," Chase said.

Zoey walked over and sat against the wall, not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation. That and she was still trying to get over the fact their friends hadn't come back to get them.

"Chase dude," Michael started, "You using your alone time with Zoey wisely?"

Chase groaned, "Michael. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere, what do you think happened?"

Chase could almost see Michael grinning, "Something good?"

"If you call breaking and entering Mr. Bender's weekend shack and busting him and his new fling 'something good', then yes, we had a fantastic time," Chase said sarcastically.

"Whoa, not cool," Michael stated the obvious, "Well, it'll take too long for you guys to come join us now. Why don't you do something with her until we get back? Maybe you can finally tell her how you feel without anyone intruding."

If he could have, Chase would have throttled Michael for bringing up his feelings for Zoey again.

Coco stomped out into the hall at that point, "GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE!" She snatched it out of Chase's hands and snapped it closed. She then turned and stomped back into her room.

"I guess she thought we'd used it long enough," Zoey commented, pushing herself up off the floor. "So what now?"

Chase shrugged, starting to feel shy, "Urr… we could ya know… watch some TV in the lounge or something."

To Chase's relief, Zoey smiled, "Sounds good to me. As long as I get control of the remote."

Chase grinned back, "Not if I beat you there!"

"Oooh, you're on!" Zoey accepted his challenge and ran off down the hall before Chase could say 'Go'.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Chase yelled after her and followed her down the hallway.

Some running, acquisition of some popcorn and Blix and comfy pillow later, Zoey and Chase were sitting comfortably side-by-side on the couch in front of the TV of the girl's lounge.

Zoey flicked through channels trying to find something decent to watch. Even though they had cable TV, she couldn't find anything worth stopping on.

The clicking was starting to drive Chase nuts. After forty stations, he reached out and grabbed the remote from Zoey's hand and shut the TV off.

"That's enough," he said, placing the remote on the coffee table in front of them, "I'm going to be dreaming of changing channels if I have to keep watching that."

Zoey giggled, "Sorry, there just wasn't anything on."

"I noticed."

Chase watched Zoey's face for a moment and noticed her expression change. It went from playful to serious.

"Chase…" she started.

'_Uh oh… I think I'm in trouble,' _was all that Chase could think.

"Yes?"

Zoey swallowed hard, "You know how… sometimes you look at me differently…"

He raised an eyebrow.

"And sometimes I catch you staring at me, when I know you don't think I've seen it…"

He started to panic.

"Well…" she started to shift her weight towards him. He moved backwards, purely out of fear. Was she going to slap him?!

"Sometimes… I do it too."

'_What?'_

Zoey seemed to read his mind, "Look at you differently. And stare at you when I think you're not looking."

Chase randomly wondered if his mouth was hanging open. He wasn't sure what was happening anymore.

Then, more swiftly than he was prepared for, Zoey kissed him.


	7. Chapter 7 Dream Weaver

Chapter Seven – Dream Weaver

Chase popped one eye open slowly, then the other. It took a few moments for him to register where he was. He expected to be curled up in his bottom bunk bed in his dorm room, but he was slightly sitting up. Actually, it was making his back really uncomfortable.

He peered down at the weight on his stomach. Zoey was sleeping peacefully against his chest. He almost fell off the couch in shock as the memories of what had unfolded came flooding back to him.

Had she really kissed him? He wasn't sure anymore. Seeing as they'd both fallen asleep, perhaps he'd just dreamt the whole thing.

Zoey stirred and looked up at him with bleary eyes. Although she was rather bedraggled, he still thought she looked like the most gorgeous thing on the planet.

"Chase?" she asked, seeming a bit confused, "What are you doing in my room?"

Chase chuckled.

"We're not in your room Zoey, we're in the lounge, remember?"

Zoey sat up, waking up properly.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried, "How long have we been asleep?!"

Chase hadn't really thought about that. He was too busy reliving whatever their kiss had been and had been enjoying Zoey being so close to him until she'd just sat up.

"Umm…" he peered at his watch, "Wow! It's almost 8."

Zoey stopped panicking. She thought Chase had ended up being there longer than the curfew in place for boys and girls that visited opposite genders' dorms. Now she knew he wasn't going to get in trouble, she relaxed.

Chase swallowed nervously, wondering how to approach the subject of the kiss.

"Zoey…" he started.

"Yes?" she asked, smoothing her hair as best she could with her hand.

"Did we… err…?" he continued, starting to sweat a little bit.

Zoey looked at him oddly.

"Kiss?" he finished.

Zoey's eyes widened. She had dreamt she had kissed Chase on impulse while they were sitting here on the couch. Did it really happen?

"I don't think so?" she laughed edgily, "Why would we do that?"

Chase was somewhat relieved and disappointed at the same time. It looked like Zoey didn't know what he was talking about.

"Ahh I don't know," he said, trying to cover up, "I must have just dreamt of it. Kind of silly huh?"

Zoey frowned. Chase had dreamt the same thing? It sounded like he didn't like the idea though. Perhaps she'd been misreading the signs after all.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and then the door to the girls' lounge burst open and Nicole, Lola and Quinn came rushing in giggling and chatting and carrying Nicole's gifts. They stopped dead in their tracks when they spied Zoey and Chase sitting rather close together on the couch looking a little bit rumpled and both with guilty looks on their faces.

Lola arched a carefully groomed eyebrow, "I think we've intruded on something."

"I agree," Nicole commented, winking at Zoey, "Let's leave the two lovebirds alone."

Both Zoey and Chase's faces burnt a brilliant shade of red.

"It's not what you think," Zoey started.

"We were…" Chase continued.

Zoey butt in, "Trying to watch TV-"

"But there was nothing on-" Chase explained.

"And we fell asleep," Zoey finished.

Chase nodded to emphasize the point, "Yep, that's all. Just sleeping. Good ol' sleep."

The three girls shared looks, amused by the two of them finishing each other's sentences.

"Whatever you say," Nicole said with a giggle.

Quinn and Lola giggled as well and the three of them headed for the stairwell.

"We'll be up in our room when you want to join us," Lola said to Zoey and they disappeared up the stairs.

"I have this strange feeling that they don't believe us," Chase mumbled.

Zoey nodded in agreement.

The awkward silence loomed again as they both wondered what to say to the other. Then Chase spoke.

"Umm I think I better get back to my dorm."

"Yeah. I don't want you to get in trouble," Zoey smiled faintly.

Chase had to look away as her smile made his heart race. He smiled shyly in return and looked over to the door.

"Yeah."

Zoey sat there silently as Chase pushed himself off the couch. He smiled again and headed over to the door. 

"Chase?" Zoey called out just before he could leave.

He stopped and looked back at her.

"Yes?"

Zoey was going to say something else, but changed her mind at the last moment. It was better to let him think he dreamt about her kissing him instead of ruining their friendship with a misunderstanding.

"Goodnight…"

Chase flashed her another cute smile, "Goodnight Zoey."

With that he turned and walked out, leaving Zoey in the empty lounge.

Now that she was alone, Zoey managed to get her heart rate back to normal. She glanced at the uneaten bowl of popcorn and the half a bottle of blue Blix and sighed.

Chase walked across the lawn in the dark. He was feeling rather frustrated. He had been so sure the kiss between them was real. Even his lips felt tingly as though they'd just been touched.

He stopped and sat under a tree and stared out over the ocean.

Zoey walked numbly up to her dorm room. She didn't even acknowledge Nicole when she offered her some of the candy they'd brought back from Malibu Castle.

Both Zoey and Chase stared into space, one thought in both of their minds.

'_Do you really want me?'_

_**The end – Thanks for reading ) Please review.**_


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